


for nearly a year I was dangerous weather

by Ushio



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, I HOPE THEY SMILE A LOT IN KH3, IF THEY WERE MORE IN THE TRAILERS, Kingdom Hearts III Speculation, Light Angst, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Roxas Drama, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, THEY'RE THE BESTEST BUDS, anyway i love their friendship!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE, everything always comes down to Roxas Drama, im sorry i just needed to write about them, who am i kidding then i would just Die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 18:58:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14900135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ushio/pseuds/Ushio
Summary: Then: “Bet you don’t know why the sun sets red.”Lea’s voice is soft and small. His whole body is hunched forward, gangly arms resting on his knees, and his face resting on his hands. There’s something terribly sad about his stance. There’s something dead; and she was not expecting that. Trying and failing to recall her old high-school science lessons, she shrugs and says, “Okay, you got me there. Why?”He doesn’t look at her as he speaks. He is talking to another person. To someone deep within his heart.[Lea remembers. He always remembers. Kairi tries to understand.]





	for nearly a year I was dangerous weather

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gwaurens](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Gwaurens).



> the xbox trailer has me WRECKED but i haven't seen my children yet so i just had to write them. i've read they briefly (so very briefly) appear at the orquestra trailer and a friend said "hey what if lea said That Thing to kairi" and fuck me sideways here i am writing this and THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT GWA I HOPE Y'ALL ENJOY THIS PAIN
> 
> title from jacquelyn bengfort's "navy news service"

Just before they left for their first mission on a gummi ship ( _their own_ gummi ship, brand new and bright pink), Riku jokingly predicted that Lea would drive them into a hitch (Kairi was banned from driving altogether after the Agrabah Incident). And they had all laughed and shook their heads and she had even said _c’mon what are the chances_. And as it stands, the chances were this. Kairi takes another look at the busted engine, tinkers for a bit more with the blocks and tries to recall all that stuff Donald said about proper refrigeration. She barely understood a word. Tired and sore, she slides out of under the ship and dusts herself off. She likes her new costume well-enough (the fairies were very kind when they magick’ed one for her) but it does seem to dirty really fast.

“So, I don’t think we’re moving anytime soon. We should walk to Daybreak Town, we’re close—” Finally looking up, she sees that Lea is nowhere near. They’ve landed in the middle of a forest and he would stick out like a sore thumb. “Lea?”

She looks around, half-worried half-annoyed, but she doesn’t get to worry for long. Soon enough she spots a clearing to the north which leads to a cliff and a sliver of sunset-scarlet hair among the trees. Kairi strides to him with her arms crossed and a deep frown. She knows the crash it’s not a big deal (she has done much, much worse whilst on the driver’s seat) but, still. He could have helped her at the very least. She feels very ready to yell all of these things to him. Ariel has taught her some excellent swear words.

Her anger never makes it home.

Once she is past the clearing she can see him clearly, sitting on a boulder near the cliff. His back’s to her but his shoulders are hitching. A single sob breaks the heavy silence and she stops dead in her tracks. Gutted. He freezes. He must have heard her. Must have heard her footsteps. Kairi fiddles with the ruffles in her skirt. Then she breathes, deep. She gathers her courage and goes sit next to him. She doesn’t dare look at him so she looks straight ahead. Daybreak Town glisters in the distance, truly beautiful beneath the setting sun. Everything is red-colored like the whole world has burst up in flames. The sky has never seemed so big or so bright. Not even back in the island. She gazes up, amazed.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Lea wipe away his eyes and clear his throat.

“So. How bad was it.” He asks, voice rough.

“Pretty fucking bad. We’re not moving anytime soon in that. I’ll need new blocks,” she says, eyes still avert. “Hopefully we’ll find some in the town but. We’re gonna have to walk there.”

Lea groans, a deep, familiar rumble that sets her bones at ease.

“What? Nooooo, I hate hiking...”

“Then you shouldn’t have _crashed_ us.”

“But it’s your fault! You were the one telling that funny bit about Sora, how was I supposed to multitask—”

“How about using your brain, you dumb fuc—” Kairi turns fully to him, once again annoyed, and loses her thread when she sees his face. It’s dreadful. His eyes are redder than the sky and his skin looks tight and blotchy. He looks drained. He looks aged, like an enormous weight has fallen unto him. He—

“You look like shit,” she says, straight off. Years of watching Sora and Riku dancing around every damn feeling have left her with little patience for words.

Lea smiles at her. An ugly smile, rueful and crooked. An _Axel_ smile.

“Yeah. I know.”

She frowns at him.

“I’m not going to ask if you’re okay.”

He blinks.

“...Okay.”

“Because. Clearly you’re not.” Kairi bites her lip and looks away, disgruntled. She’s really bad at dealing with feelings. Naminé would have been better, she just knows. “The thing is, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong I can’t help. Can’t read minds yet, so...”

“ _Yet._ ”

“Hey, shut your trap. I’ve _told_ you, I’ve told you before, I’ll be the bestest mage that never ever was and—”

“One, that’s still not a word and two, hey stop, stop hitting me, and two, there’s not even a spell for—”

She smacks him harder.

“I’ll make one myself! I’ll do it even if I have to fight King Mickey bared handed.” Kairi says, with her most serious face. And Lea just breaks into giggles, bending over himself.

“Why- _why_ would you even have to do that,” he snorts, gasping for air, and Kairi feels her heart swell with warmth. She smiles at him while he recovers and then they settle into an easy silence. The question still hangs in the air between them but Lea seems more put together now. So she waits. She’s real great at it. It just takes time.

After what feels forever, right before the sun finally sets, Lea speaks again. The sky is darkening and some stars already shine. Kairi gazes into them and thinks of her island. The tower. Riku and Sora, somewhere out there.

“You’re thinking of them,” he says and she snaps back. There’s something sad in his voice.

“I miss them,” Kairi admits, shrugging easily. She gifts him a small smile. “But I’m glad I get to travel with you.”

He startles up.

“You are?”

“Of course, silly. You’ve grown on me.” Her smile turns devilish. “Like fungus.”

“Ouch,” he smiles back. He turns his head towards Daybreak Town, still painted in that fiery sunset-red, and his eyes crinkle and shine. Kairi waits. Then: “Bet you don’t know why the sun sets red.”

Lea’s voice is soft and small. His whole body is hunched forward, gangly arms resting on his knees, and his face resting on his hands. There’s something terribly sad about his stance. There’s something dead; and she was not expecting that. Trying and failing to recall her old high-school science lessons, she shrugs and says, “Okay, you got me there. Why?”

He doesn’t look at her as he speaks. He is talking to another person. To someone deep within his heart.

“You see; light is made up of a lot of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest.” His words tumble one after the other, slowly, like pieces in a puzzle that he does not know how to put, and so he holds with both his hands and his tongue. He sounds far-away, brittle, as if one gust of wind could blow him over. He sounds like a broken man.

Kairi can’t tear her eyes away from him. It has been some time since she last saw Axel. Desperately, she tries to think of words to speak, of the right words to heal and mend and cure his festering hurt. Words to bring light unto the darkness; words to chase away the memories; to numb the pain. Before she can think of any, her mouth moves on her own. Ghost memories. Remnants from Sora’s heart.

“Like I asked! Know-it-all!” She snorts. Immediately, she covers her mouth with her hands, ashamed. _What was that?_ “God, Lea, I’m so-”

He blinks owlishly at her. And then he just — laughs. Helplessly, soundlessly, with such an honest, raw desperation— his laughter is filled with pain enough to break a heart. To break hers in half.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, it’s fine, don’t—” He turns to her and rests his head on her shoulder. The angle is wrong and uncomfortable but Kairi leans onto him and hugs him with one arm. “It’s okay. It’s all okay. Just give me a moment. I have a thing with sunsets,” he mumbles into her shirt. She pokes at his hair.

“A thing with sunsets,” Kairi repeats. Her own voice comes out rough and stiff.

“Yeah, a whole thing with sunsets. Sunset PTSD. It’s. It’s a Roxas thing.”

“Ah.”

“So can we just—?”

“Yeah. Yeah, sure. All the time you need, Lea. There’s no rush.”

He hides further beneath her chin and she hugs him closer, digging her hands into his coat, trying her best to stay steady. To be his rock. They take their time. Minute by minute the fire-red sky bleeds away, completely, until there’s nothing but darkness and light.

Mostly void, partially stars.

**Author's Note:**

> last line belongs to night vale i own nothing yada yada  
> i hope kairi turned out fine!!! i wanted to write her tougher than usual.... lemme know what u think


End file.
